Lady s skirt



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

EDWARD F. VVOODVVARD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

LADYS SKIRT.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 17,602, dated June 16, 1857.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD F. WOOD- WARD, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stiening Ladies Skirts or Bustles and other Articles of Dress; and I do hereby declare the following to be a descri tion thereof in which my invention is ful y ascertained and set forth, reference being had to the following drawing, in which Figure 1, is a view of the skirt with the newimprovement. Fig. 2, is a cord detached. Fig. 3, modification of ditto.

Heretofore the mode adopted in the present fashion of skirts is to form hoops of the very expensive material whale bone or of the interior substance of the ratan (Calamus rotomg) from which the outer silicious substance has been removed. These appliances as well as coarser ones are heavy, cumbersome, and quite too rigid, they do not permit an easy graceful iiow of the drapery of a ladys dress so essential to beauty of costume and when acted upon by the wind they show conspicuously and inelegantly. I eectually remedy these defects by my im rovements and form a light buoyant fabric having all the necessary stiffness for the purpose and at the same time an elasticity and pliability not before found in the articles now in the market. y

My invention is constructed as follows: I shave the center portion of the Ualamus rotting, or common ratan, or such other analogous reed or substance as shall be found the equivalent thereof after the outer silicious portions of it have been removed in strips, I cut it into shavings, or I employ the waste shavings of this substance when produced in any of the manufactures of ratan. These shavings or fibers however produced I uilt between proper materials for forming t e pads of the skirt in the required form. If I require, as in most cases I do, to have the additional aid of a cord or stiffener to the spiral about to be described which I put around the bottom or elsewhere I take a cord of hemp or other material and wind around it a spiral strip of the outer silicious portion of the ratan before named which has been previously steamed to soften it. This when again dried becomes stiff and elastic and forms a substitute every way superior to the articles heretofore in use, which yield to external pressure without the rigidity of a hoop, while it s rings into place with the same force when re `eved. I sometimes propose to use the spirals of ratan withoutt e interior cord. This is sewed, woven, or quilted into the skirt, and produces the effect with great lightness. I pro ose also to saturate this material with gum s ellac, or seedlac, or some other analogous gum that adds increased stiHness and durability and prevent their becoming limber by wear, and to substitute nutalY in some cases. The manufacture of this cord can be effected by any convenient machinery.

Having thus fully described my improved articles of ladies dress what I claim therein as new and for which I desire to secure Letters Patent is The employment of the spiral stiifener or cord for stiffening ladies skirts, &c., together with the saturation thereof in manner set forth and for the purposes specified.

EDWARD F. WOODWARD.

Witnesses ALB. H. HAWK, SAM COLEMAN. 

